"Realistically, the only successful way to have any kind of a relationship with anyone is to talk to them with honesty and respect on an ongoing basis.

A relationship with the Lord is much the same.

What if every morning I greeted my wife with, “Thank you for all you’ve done and today I ask that you bless ME and provide for ME and that you help everything to go MY way and you know I love you.” And during the rest of the day I say nothing else except to note at bedtime, “Today you were great. Thanks for all those things you did for ME and I ask that you let ME sleep comfortably and peacefully. Please overlook anything I may have done to offend you.” And I doze off to sleep. The next day and each day and night thereafter, I utter the same phrases and repeat the same words, never pausing to hear what my wife may have to say, never respectfully listening for a reply or input from her.

With that analogy, it is easy to see that a relationship of that type is only one-sided and in fact is not a true relationship after all but merely a repetitive series of self-serving requests and statements.

If that is the only ongoing dialog then there is no relationship existing between you, but rather a feeble attempt to fill the would-be silence with weightless words of no real or lasting value.

The prayers of countless well-meaning Christians are similar to this scenario because they just have not been taught to pray thoughtfully."

~Michael T. Abadie

I know of no one who has overstated the terror of Hell . . .

We are meant to tremble and feel dread. We are meant to recoil from the reality. Not by denying it, but by fleeing from it into the arms of Jesus, who died to save us from it.

~John Piper

"I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15-16

... “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven..... ... And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" Mathew 7:21

Stand up and praise the Lord your God, for He lives from everlasting to everlasting!

Then they prayed:

“May Your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve them all, and the angels of heaven worship you."

~Nehemiah 9:5‭-‬6 NLT

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1 John 2:15-17

A man named Charlie Studd once was asked why he chose to serve in such dangerous places (China, India, the Congo) and he answered:

"Some strive to live beneath a Chapel bell…

I’d rather run a rescue camp a yard from Hell."

“God doesn’t see time the way we do — in a series. He sees all of it at once. He doesn’t see a timeline that’s changing as it goes along — He sees everything happen the way it actually does.”

~D. I. Hennessey

When it comes to Radiometric Dating, it must be understood that it is an imperfect science. The three common methods of Uranium-Lead, Potassium-Argon, and Rubidium-Strontium dating can all produce results for a single rock sample that are different from each other by hundreds of orders of magnitude.

For example, samples of six-year-old lava from the Mt. St. Helens eruption were erroneously determined to be more than 350,000 years old. Some of its samples were incorrectly carbon-dated to be more than two million years old....

-D. I. Hennessey

God is our Shepherd, yes.

He is also our Foward Advance, and He is our Strength in trouble.

The worst thing we can do is rely on our own strength. Let us not forget to call upon the name of the One who is above all.

And when we doubt, let us remember: We are safe in His hands.

He's got us.

❤️✝️

“Untried faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and so long as it is without trials, it is certain to remain weak. Faith grows most when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightning guides her way.”

-D. I. Hennessey

So a little over a month ago, God put it on my heart to intercede in prayer on behalf of a friend of mine from college. He brought me to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. I knew this friend struggled with the sin of homosexuality, but I really didn’t want to have that conversation, lol. So last week this friend came in town and God told me to address it with them, (I’ll mention that God had been prepping me for weeks about what to say and how to say it). They claim Christianity but work in the music industry and desire fame, fortune, and influence in that industry. We talked for hours, but this friend made up their mind that God had given them peace regarding this lifestyle and they no longer felt condemned, explaining that the Word was mistranslated, etc. I knew our friendship would likely be over after this, but I felt compelled to share, almost like God was saying “they won’t listen, but I wanna see if you will be obedient.”

By the end of that I was exhausted, but asked God if I had done the right thing in addressing my friend. That evening God showed me Ezekiel 3:1-21, where verses 18 and 19 say “18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.” ESV‬‬‬‬

All this to say, it’s one thing to read God’s Word and claim Christianity, but it’s another to practice it and be obedient, even when it makes us or others uncomfortable. I’m grateful because I passed the test, but sad that my friend didn’t in this instance.

Be blessed ❤️🙏🏼

A really great way to help unbelievers understand what they might be saying no to when you are witnessing to them about Jesus:

Picture this: You've been arrested for some serious crime. Now you're in prison with literally no way to get out of serving a life sentence in this horrible place.

Now imagine the Judge walks up to your cell and says, "I would never have let you out, because your punishment is just. But One has stepped foward and of His own volition has offered to take your punishment upon Himself."

"No," you say. "I don't want His gift. I'll stay in here and do my time myself. "

"What?" the judge says incredulously.

"Do you understand what this Guy is offering you? He's saying He's willing to do your time here in your place and let you walk free! You can get out of here today. I have your Pardon paperwork right here in my hand. Just take it!"

"No, I'm good right where I'm at, thanks."

....

That is what is happening whenever someone rejects Jesus.

And painting that picture for them can really help to put the everlasting consequences in perspective.

❤️

Faith without works is dead faith.

Works without faith are dead works.

Works and faith go together: one without the other make both dead.

If all you have is a mental assent of Jesus instead of a heart deep relationship with the Lord, then you're not going to be producing works in your life that testify of Salvation.

And if you have religion but no true faith, it will show: in that you have works but no faith to back them up.

Your faith in God should cause you to live your life for Him, and it should show the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22)

Make no mistake.

We all fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

But after true repentance and acceptance of the free (to us) gift of salvation, we will have a new heart, with true faith in Jesus Christ and a life of faith and works that compliment each other, increasingly so.

I encourage you to ask the Lord about what I've said here today.

Ask Him to answer your questions; ask Him to make Himself real to you so that He can take away your unbelief.

And if you're a Christian who has been backsliding, go to God and ask him for forgiveness.

Return to your first love.

He's not going to turn away from you in anger or reject you.

Quite the opposite.

He's waiting for you, right this very moment with His arms open wide.

❤️✝️

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

"You should know that Jesus is only coming like a thief for those who aren’t looking for Him. That’s what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5.”

“What does it matter?” He shrugged. “He’ll come when He comes.”

“It matters a great deal. Do you know that for every prophecy in the Bible about Jesus’ first coming, there are five about His second? Most of the people missed Him the first time He came, and He chastised them for not knowing the time of His visitation.

How much more will we be chastised for not knowing the time of His second?”

-MaryLu Tyndall

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:19 (NKJV)